Tag Archives: Tom Lane

CLARE County Council has been requested to contact landowners to get their views before their land is zoned for residential purposes in the Draft County Development Plan without their consent. That’s the view of Clare IFA chairman, Tom Lane, who believes that it is unfair to place the onus on a landowner – who didn’t request residential zoning on their land – to be lumbered with the burden of having to lodge an appeal for exclusion. The Residential Zoned Land Tax is an annual tax, which will be first due in 2024 in respect of lands included on the RZLT Final Map to be published by local authorities on December 1 2023. Mr Lane said landowners can be easily identified by the Council through a search on the Land Registry. Many may even be unaware of existing residential zoning on a portion of their land. As land zoned residential is of much higher value, farmers could face the prospect of …

FARMING representative organisations in Clare have given a cautious welcome to Budget 2021, while voicing reservations over the fairness of the an increase of almost 2c per litre in the price of agri-diesel. An increase of €7.50 per tonne of carbon came into effect last Tuesday night, adding 1.937c the cost of a litre of green diesel. The measure takes the total carbon tax on agri-diesel to almost 9c per litre. Said Cratloe’s Eddie Punch, General Secretary of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA), “The carbon tax is an environmental measure when there is a viable alternative to agri-diesel. When there’s no realistic alternative, it becomes just another tax, and it’s unfair.” Tom Lane, Clare County Chair of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA), agreed the measure is unjust in the view of his members. “There is no viable alternative to agri-diesel on the market currently,” he said. “We understand the pressure to reduce emissions and when you look …

CLARE IFA officers are planning to seek a meeting with Kepak representatives amid growing concern about whether their meat factory in Drumquin will re-open following its closure on February 14. IFA chairman, Tom Lane told the Clare Champion officers were keen to meet Kepak executives to question them about their future plans for the plant. Mr Lane said Kepak had some contracts with local beef finishers, which it was honouring by slaughtering their animals outside the county. “I would like to see Kepak re-open in Drumquin,” he said. Clare Beef Plan chairman, Joe Woulfe has expressed concern about the long delay in re-opening Kepak’s Drumquin plant. Mr Woulfe is worried that Kepak’s Clare plant may not re-open and has been informed that some equipment may have been transferred off site. He said management should have sat down with local farming representatives to work out a future for the plant. Last February, Kepak staff were told two days before its closure …